Responding to the Queen’s Speech delivered at the State Opening of Parliament yesterday, David Sinclair, Director of the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) argued:

“The package of legislative measures set out in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, quite rightly focuses on recovering from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the Government can’t forget about demographic change if it is to deliver this recovery and level up health and the economy across the country.”

“When we look at levelling up health, we know there is a massive, and growing, gap in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest. It’s unacceptable that where you live in the UK impacts on how healthy you are likely to be, how long you will live and what job opportunities you might have. The Government has set itself a bold and ambitious target to increase healthy life expectancy for all by 5 years by 2035. To deliver this, we will need an equally bold and ambitious policy framework to support health across all ages, with a focus on prevention rather than just cure.”.

“Including people of all ages will also be vital as we consider how to revitalise our high streets and local economies. Older consumers already dominate consumer spending and by 2040, they could be spending 63p in every pound. But to tap into this potential, we need to support people to stay healthy, design town centres, products and services that are inclusive, so people can spend on the things they want. With greater ambition and imagination, our high streets could thrive, playing a role in tackling loneliness and helping the UK economy succeed.”

“Finally, the Queen’s speech touches on the importance of skilling up and investing in our workforce of the future. We know that we are likely going to work for longer, but that too many people are forced out of work sooner than they would like – due to poor health, caring needs or ageism. Older workers have been disproportionately hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic and are finding it harder to return to work. By 2030, we could see a skills gap of 2.6 million jobs if employers don’t find ways of better supporting people to learn at all ages, and redesigning jobs that people want and can do for as long as they wish.”

“We look forward to working with Government, MPs and peers on the detail of several of the Bills announced today.”

Ends

Contact
Contact press@ilcuk.org.uk or +44 (0) 208 638 0832 for press queries. Spokespeople are available for interview.

Notes
ILC’s estimates of workforce shortages are available from: Plugging the gap: Estimating the demand and supply of jobs by sector in 2030 – ILCUK

Research conducted by Professor Mayhew on ‘The cost of inequality: Putting a price on health’ published in July 2021 by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CFSI), in partnership with ILC and Bayes Business School at City University, challenges conventional wisdom by proposing a novel way of thinking about inequalities that links health to wealth and to the economy.

ILC research on dementia and spending states over 850,000 people live with dementia in the UK likely to rise to over 1.6 million by 2040. By 2025, an estimated 700,000 people with dementia will live in their local community. In 2019, households with someone living with dementia were expected to spend £16.7 billion, a figure expected to double by 2040.